The First Minister of Wales, Mark Drakeford, has come under fire for his remarks regarding a Wales-specific inquiry.

Mark Drakeford has been asked to withdraw comments claiming families bereaved by Covid had now moved on from wanting an independent Wales investigation into the pandemic.

Members of the Covid Bereaved Families for Justice Cymru group said that was not true and it was an insult.

Welsh Conservative leader Andrew RT Davies and Rhun ap Iorweth MS, Plaid Cymru’s spokesperson on health and care, have written to Mr Drakeford, asking him to clarify his remarks.

Commenting on Mr Drakeford’s comments in the Senedd last Tuesday, 4 October, that “the world had moved on”, Mr Davies MS said: “We welcome the Covid-19 Bereaved Families for Justice Cymru group being granted core participant status for the UK Covid Inquiry.

“However, if he had any dignity, respect or courage, the First Minister would announce a Wales-specific Covid inquiry to address the reasons why Wales has the highest Covid death rate in the UK. Instead, he is running scared.

“I asked the First Minister why Nicola Sturgeon was wrong to be holding a Scottish-specific Covid inquiry and he was right not to. He failed to answer and continues to maintain that his self-described ‘differing approach’ does not need to be scrutinised.

“The First Minister may think that ‘the world has moved on’ as he insensitively proclaimed in the chamber today, but the bereaved families most certainly have not, they deserve answers.”

On 5 October, Mr Davies decided to write a letter to Mr Drakeford about his comments.

“The First Minister will have upset many people yesterday when he said ‘the world has moved on’ when it comes to a Covid inquiry for Wales,” he said.

“Under Labour’s management of the pandemic, Wales had the highest Covid death rate in the UK.

“And those deaths aren’t just numbers, they’re empty spaces at dinner tables this Christmas, they’re families changed forever, they’re people taken before their time.

“Those families deserve answers, and it is completely unacceptable for the First Minister to misrepresent their views in the Welsh Parliament.

“He must now correct the record.”

The letter said: “Dear First Minister, You will know that I have made several attempts to convince you to commission an independent Covid inquiry for Wales.

“Yesterday, during leaders’ questions, you said: ‘I welcome very much the fact today that the Covid-19 Bereaved Families for Justice group here in Wales has secured core participation status in front of the UK inquiry. I had written to them earlier this year supporting their application for core participation status.’

“However, in a letter from you to CBFJC dated 8 August 2022, you said you wanted to avoid any suggestion you were seeking to influence who core participants should be.

“You also told me: ‘They are moving on from continuing to ask for something which is not going to happen’.

“However, on their Twitter account, the CBFJC said they have not moved on, and that they ‘demand a #WalesCovidInquiry focussing on devolved decision making in Wales’.

“As you can see, your account of events, and the account put forward by CBFJC are at odds with each other.

“From their posts on social media, it would appear that the CBFJC are deeply unhappy about your representation of their views and your claim to have ‘support’ for their core participation status application.

“Will you please now either clarify the basis on which your comments were made, or correct the record?”

Rhun ap Iorweth MS has also written to the First Minister asking him to withdraw comments which “misrepresent” a group campaigning for justice for families bereaved from Covid-19.

“As a mark of respect to the campaigners, the First Minister should reflect on the choice of words he used yesterday,” he said.

“In Plenary, the First Minister indicated that the Covid-19 Bereaved Families for Justice Cymru group “are moving on” from wanting a Wales-specific independent inquiry into the pandemic, but the campaigners were quick to point out on Twitter that the First Minister had ‘lied’”.

He added: “The Covid-19 Bereaved Families for Justice Cymru group are rightly angry that they were misrepresented by the First Minister Mark Drakeford in Plenary.

“They have not ‘moved on’ and, like me, remain convinced that Covid-19 decisions taken in Wales should be scrutinised in Wales.

“While some decisions were made at UK level, much of the response to the pandemic here in Wales has been in the hands of the Welsh Government, and the only way to truly learn lessons of the pandemic would be to have our own Wales-specific public inquiry.

“There is also a suggestion that the First Minister had written to them earlier this year supporting their application for core participation status, which they have shown to be inaccurate.

“As a mark of respect to the campaigners, the First Minister should reflect on the choice of words he used yesterday.”

A Welsh Government spokesperson said: “We are determined to ensure our actions and decisions – and those of other public services in Wales – are fully and properly scrutinised.

“The UK-wide inquiry is best placed to oversee the interconnected nature of the decisions that have been made across the four nations.”

They said the First Minister will be responding to the letters in due course, adding that what Mr Drakeford said in the Senedd was that the group was ‘moving on to put their energies and their efforts into making sure, as I want to see, that their questions are properly rehearsed, and the best answers and provided in front of the Baroness Hallett inquiry’.

He was referring to a section in a press release issued by the group that morning that said: “CBFJC have therefore shifted their focus to ensuring that Wales is fully scrutinised in the UK Covid-19 inquiry.”